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In this online talk Tony McAleavy will share the findings of his new research into the important story of Anne Bodenham of Salisbury who was executed for witchcraft in 1653.
Anne's life and tragic death feature prominently in Tony's new book, The Last Witch Craze. She had been operating openly in the city as a 'wise woman' offering potions and charms to local people when she was accused by another Salisbury woman of being in league with the Devil. Her trial was a national sensation and was widely reported in London broadsheets and ballads. Tony promises to explain what really happened and how news of her 'witchcraft' reached New England. A Cambridge academic called Henry More wrote an influential book about the authenticity of witchcraft which devoted substantial attention to More's view that Bodenham's case proved that witches were real. More's book was read by the clergy and judges in Salem and it helped to convince them that witchcraft existed and needed to be ruthlessly stamped out.
This lecture is online.
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